Boxing Day Hunt Meets

[Matthew Arnold]

I compleatly agree with killing vermin, if I could have my way id eradicate every grey squirrel from this country and reintroduce our native red.

 

Some things do have to be killed but this must be done humainly!

 

I havent so much as gone to the otherside of the fence as such and become an anit as i have never sabed a hunt. All im trying to say is that the picture seen on boxing day is just a small peice of the hunt world and most people dont get to see the rest which I have given an insite into which quite understanderbly pro hunting people dont like to be heard.

 

Has any body else had any involvement with hunt kennels?[/QUOTE]

 

I have but only to drop of carcases from the local farms to feed the hounds. And to do rat control.

[3dogs]

[Nic Johnson Contracting]

i have and good friends with whipper ins and i haven't witnessed what you have at all everything i have witnessed has been to what i concider good welfare standards

[S Fry]

When I was bit younger, things were pretty much always black and white with me. I was often very oppinionated and outspoked, and at times I admit that my view was'nt always the best informed. I like to think of myself as a pretty worldly person now, and I can appreciate that there are many shades of grey between the black and white.

 

However, Fox hunting with hounds has always been something I see as unacceptable. I can appreciate that people like to hunt and eat what they catch, and if it is a sustainable practice then I'm all for it. I can also understand that vermin needs to be kept in check, provided that it is done in a humane way where the animal does not suffer.

 

Fox hunting is a Blood Sport. No animal shoud have to suffer for our enjoyment, under no circumstance. I believe that this is a simple matter of fact, and a fact of life. Foxes are not vermin, it is only due to human's clashing with them as we dominate this Planet, that some people brand them as one. They are a native wild animal here in the British Isle, just like Boar, Wolves, Beavers and Bears once were, and perhaps one day could be again. We should be proud of the fact, but instead there are those who only want to trample their existence into the very countryside they claim to be part of themselves.

 

If Fox populations are on the increase and are genuinely causing problems, it is only because we move into their habitats and force them to react against us, such as taking chickens or such. If they need to be brought into check, then I wish that it was done with humane efficiency, i.e cleanly shooting them. Not by dressing up in garish livery, charging around the countyside en masse with a pack of wound up dogs scaring the life out of an animal that has as much right to life (if not more?), and then have the cheek to label it as 'tradition' and deem it acceptable.

 

Granted there has been violence on both sides of the fence. In those video's the 'Country' Gentry men in particular act like cowardly scum. If I were there and if myself or andyone else had been charged or trampled and physically assulted in any way , I would not have hesitated in ripping that person from their saddle, as much in self defence as anger.

 

Im sure its fun to meet up on boxing day, and other such occasions and remember this past tradition. To share a drink and a few stories beteen a bit of a ride and a run of the hounds is fair past time. Fox hunting of old has been banned for a reason though. Its an inhumane, backwards and dishonourable tradition in my eyes, and always will be. I hope that people can see that when they take part, and only appreciate how times have changed.

 

Maybe a little much for this thread, but after some of the comments I just felt I had to say my bit. Whats a disscussion forum for after all hey?!

[Mark Bolam]

Arborist, you obviously know the crack, and there is no doubt that some horrendous practices did/do exist in the hunting field.

 

Rather than turn your back, do you think you could have helped by staying in there, but trying to change the way things are?

 

Stopping up earths so a hunted fox couldn't go to ground and/or digging it out was what got the publics back up anyway. Rightly so, I feel.

 

Plenty of hunts now run a more level playing field approach, and their popularity has increased accordingly.

 

Anyone partaking in some of the things you have mentioned would have felt the wrath of my forehead immediately.

 

Being a supporter of field sports AND animal rights is not mutually exclusive.

[Nick Watkins]

 

Im sure its fun to meet up on boxing day, and other such occasions and remember this past tradition. To share a drink and a few stories beteen a bit of a ride and a run of the hounds is fair past time. Fox hunting of old has been banned for a reason though. Its an inhumane, backwards and dishonourable tradition in my eyes, and always will be. I hope that people can see that when they take part, and only appreciate how times have changed.

 

 

I have the opposite opinion to you on this and neither find it backwards or dishonourable. Like everything in life it comes down to what you find acceptable and morally just within the boundaries of the law.

 

I was always bought up to walk a mile in another mans shoes before I opened my mouth, that not always easy but is common respect. I can't see your perspective (or others) but am happy for you to have that opinion and will agree to disagree and life moves on.

 

What I cant understand is people who can't walk a mile in another mans shoes and will try to force their opinions and moral ethics on others (not aimed at you Spartan, Anti's in general). I personally find fat birds offensive but leave them to their cream cakes in peace and quite. Should I choose to take umbrage with their fatness and stick a video camera in their face telling them what their doing to themselves is morally wrong then I could expect a slap in return for my efforts.

 

Why can't people just leave other people alone to their views and morals, if it's lawful then you should be able to do whatever it is that your doing in peace. If it's not lawful then it is a matter for the Police regardless of how well they are doing that job. If you take that role on yourself and you seek out the fire to stick your hand into then it's going to get burnt, simples. I do not agree with the bullying tactics on the video clips but had to laugh when the bloke fell into the ditch, toughen up princess life is harsh.

Edited December 22, 2010 by Nick Watkins
Sidlexic

[Taupotreeman]

I don't wish to get into the arguements of for or against hunting as I believe it's a no win situation and will continue to go round in circles but I would like to add my personal thought on the subject and without taking issue with anything anyone has said so far on the argument. When I was a good bit younger I was fully against fox hunting, so much so that it affected my relationship with a girl that had been brought up in the country with a hunting background. I have regretted letting it come between us to this day, especially when I see what the ban on hunting has and hasn't done for the practice. I hated some of the practices that went on with the "sport" like cubbing etc but I hate just as much the approach and practices of some of the anti hunt brigade. Many of these so called animal welfare brigade are more than happy to kill or injure dogs and horses associated with the hunt so it seems a bit hypocritical to me. I'm not sure if many of the anti hunt brigade are more against the class that the hunt represents rather than against the hunt itself. Maybe as I've grown older I've just found more pressing issues in the world to worry about but I see no difference in cruelty to a fox dispatched by hounds or a pig kept in a sow crate for its entire life. As I said, this argument could go round in circles.

[greengrafter]

I have a great deal of respect for foxes but they do need to be kept in check.

Im sure that you will all agree that if your number was up you d rather be dispatched with a rifle, rather than be chased by men on horse back and a pack of hounds.

.

 

I think Mr jammy dodger has got the right idea here.:thumbup:and all the hunting men on horses should take this into consideration, and take five mins to think about it.

[Arborist]

Hi Mark Bolam,

 

I didn't turn my back with out helping as such.

 

It was hard to let people know what was going on as it was a complicated stiuation at the kennels and was surrounded bu a lot of violant people - some of them were part of the chelsie hed hunters so people who are up for a fight and this was talked about openley!!

I did blow the whistle which caused a huge bust up. The kennels were shared with another pack and the beagles had to move out. The hounds are now to my knowlege better looked after but all people involved are still in hunt service.

 

Once the whistle was blown so to speak I was threatened with all sorts of violance If i was to turn up at a meet.

 

pro hunters will protect this sport and a sport is all it is its nothing more with there life.

[Bomag]

The biggest problem was the vermin control arguement, as a form of vermin control it wasnt great, a hi-bred fox was bred through the removal of the weak.

 

If the Hunt admitted they did it because they enjoyed it, they would of won more respect from townies.

 

Terriers, vermin drives and the rifle are the best form of fox control.

 

I fully support the right to hunt, but some of the practices are not in the best interest of hunting itself. The dogs cant be blamed, they are just doing what comes naturally.